There is a dangerous trend with our uninformed men, especially with the soldiers that has to be checked if we must build a society where the rule of law and complete subservience to civil rule and authority should be the hallmark of the country.....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Perhaps, we are still suffering and bedeviled by the vestiges of militarism after so many years of military incursion into governance in the country. It also is a problem of the kind of training that our soldiers receive that you wonder if they ever enjoy any form of interaction or relationships with their colleagues from other climes.
An average soldier believes that he is superior and more patriotic than other Nigerians and so could at the slightest provocation brutalize their victims, most times for no justifiable reason. Why do they derogatorily refer to civilians as bastards and bloody civilians?
Recently, a soldier, so he claimed, as soon as he saw a policeman entering his bus he uses for commercial purposes, almost instantly started abusing the policeman as though they had known each other before that encounter. He called him all kinds of names including reminding him that he was only a civilian and that he would deal with him.
Of course that led to a spectacle of sorts as they began exchanging abusive words at each other, to the embarrassment of onlookers. The soldier’s vituperation was completely uncalled for and unwarranted.
What is the quality of their training? Why do they always feel insecure when they relate with civilians such that they think the only way they can get even is by being aggressive and violent whenever they encounter civilians? Why do Nigerian soldiers believe that they are above the law and constituted authority?
The incursion of the military into governance has left them worse off as professionals such that their political exposure has left them divided along ethnic and religious lines too that you can hardly expect them to be fair in their mediation in any matter.
Recently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was on his way to the Ojo campus of the Lagos State University (LASU), for the inauguration of the Femi Gbajabiamila Conference Centre, when he encountered some motorcyclists, from which one of the arrested identified himself as a soldier, and immediately ordered their arrest.
The video showed many of the riders and passengers abandoning their motorcycles and fleeing as the governor’s security operatives gave them a chase. A few escaped while a handful were apprehended.
He had approached the man the same way he approached others including a female, but they were all apologetic but for the soldier, he simply announced the fact that he was a soldier, as though that confers on him the right to break the law.
The video of the governor’s encounter with these people had hardly gone on the social media before some rather rude, discourteous and insolent colleagues of his began to rain abuses on Governor Sanwo-Olu. Their outburst was such that you wonder if they can do this to an elected representative of the people as a governor, then what would have been the fate of a lesser mortal.
They did not spare any word while insulting the governor and they were so bold that they did not even bother to disguise themselves. That is how deplorable and degenerated we have come as a society.
In one of the videos, a soldier whose name wasn’t mentioned, in anger blasted the governor saying, “You are calling a soldier useless but when you want to do your dirty work you use the soldiers.”
This is a clarion call for the authorities of armed forces and the police to take a second a look at their personnel and the process that throws them out and also the need to instill discipline on these men.
Where they get that erroneous notion that they are more patriotic and are more committed to the nation, is what I do not understand.
Sometime in August 20, 2019 Hamisu Bala, a notorious billionaire kidnap kingpin, also known as Wadume, confessed that men of the Nigeria Army actually helped him escape on August 6 after he was arrested by the police. Two police officers attached to the special anti-kidnap squad of the Inspector General of Police and a civilian were killed when soldiers opened fire on them.
The incident generated a public row between the police and soldiers, with Nigerians completely appalled.
And as usual, the military simply made the world believe, of course with the consent of the former Attorney general and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, that the matter will be handled by the military internally.
Military officers who commit crimes, after going through internal disciplinary action, should be handed over to the police for prosecution. Or how else can the rest of the people including their colleagues know what they risk if they find themselves on the wrong side of the law?
No serious society will tolerate the nuisance being displayed by many of our officers on the grounds of recognizing only their superiors in the military.
Thankfully, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, had revealed that the soldier who insulted Sanwo-Olu, had been arrested.
Lagbaja, who addressed journalists in Enugu, had said the army was unhappy with the conduct of the soldier. He also clarified that only one soldier was involved adding that the others were not soldiers.
The issue of discipline among soldiers, especially as it concerns relating with civilians, must be accorded the prominence it rightly deserves. Globally, the military thrives on discipline. Ours must not be an exception. Hence, those who fall short of expectations should be shown the way out.
There should not be any attempt to protect those that bring their image into disrepute as this will send wrong signals among the ranks and file and also it would be seen to mean that these unruly men have the backing of the authorities in the military.…CONTINUE READING>>